According to the records of the Italian civil aviation authority (Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile - ENAC), the contract will run from July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2021.

The PSO covers routes out of Pantelleria to each of Trapani (14x weekly), Palermo (14x weekly, growing to 17x weekly in the peak season), and Catania (2x weekly), as well as from Lampedusa to each of Trapani (18x weekly, growing to 28x weekly in the peak season) and Catania (3x-7x weekly). The only other bidder was currently inactive Romanian operator FlyValan (Bucharest Otopeni).

DAT has earlier said that it is mulling establishing an Italian subsidiary to manage the PSO operations once the tender is awarded to the carrier.

According to the ch-aviation fleets module, DAT currently operates four A320-200s, two ATR 42-320s (including one in QC variant), one ATR 42-500, four ATR 72-200s, one ATR 72-500 (on wet-lease for Air Nostrum), and one MD-83. The company also expects a delivery of one MD-82 soon and wet-leases one Saab 340A from DOT LT. The company's current scheduled network covers mostly domestic routes in Denmark and Norway, as well as some flights between the two countries.

About DAT - Danish Air Transport

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"We received competition office approval in early October, so that is fully completed," CFO and interim CEO Pekka Vähähyyppä said.

Finnair will continue to own the remaining 40% of NoRRA.

The regional specialist operates twelve E190s and twelve ATR72-500s solely on behalf of Finnair, feeding the carrier on regional routes. The stake now acquired by DAT had been owned by flybe. (BE, Exeter) until 2015. Since then, StaffPoint and Kilco held the 60% stake, but sold it back to Finnair in 2017.

DAT, a regional specialist which operates scheduled, charter, and ACMI flights across Scandinavia and in southern Italy, already owns a subsidiary in Latvia, DOT LT (R6, Kaunas). It also has a number of virtual brands used in different markets, namely Bornholmerflyet on Denmark's Bornholm island, Stordflyet...